Activision Blizzard’s colossal Call of Duty series returns with the Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games co-developed ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’, marking the eighth instalment in the franchise.

Launch week units puts it on an even footing with ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops’, but higher by revenue. This makes it the highest grossing opening week of all time for any entertainment title, outselling the opening weekend box office of the last four Harry Potter films combined. The Xbox 360 version of ‘Modern Warfare 3’ is again the lead format taking 59% of units (compared to 55% for ‘Black Ops’) ahead of PS3’s 40% (‘Black Ops’ was 42%). We’ve got another new entry at No2, Bethesda’s ‘The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’ which is the publisher’s biggest ever opening week, more than twice ‘Fallout: New Vegas’ (Bethesda’s previous biggest launch week) and the 5th biggest launch week this year (after Modern Warfare 3, FIFA 12, Battlefield 3 and only just behind Gears of War 3).

This means that last week’s No1, EA’s ‘Battlefield 3’ (-62%), is now at No3 followed by EA again at No4 with ‘FIFA 12’ (-3%). Ubisoft’s ‘Just Dance 3’ (+18%) refuses to budge with its fourth week at No5 and last week’s No2, Sony’s ‘Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception’ (-72%), is down four places to No6. The only other new entry to make the Top 40 is at No7 with Mind Candy/Activision’s ‘Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo’ followed by Warner Bros. Interactive’s ‘Batman: Arkham City’ (-41%) at No8. 505 Games’ ‘Zumba Fitness’ (+4%) is hanging in there at No9 and Nintendo’s ‘Wii Party’ (+485%) is back in the Top 10 after a 35 week absence thanks to the new hardware bundle ‘Nintendo Wii White Family Edition’.